"Daigo: Genin, reconnaissance ninja with unremarkable sensory abilities. Died during a patrol mission late in the Third Shinobi World War at age thirteen. However, a figure suspected to be Daigo reappeared in Konoha recently."
"The body... Konoha Hospital... the Third Hokage... and Kushina Uzumaki..."
"Resurrection? Orochimaru?"
Within Root headquarters, shortly after the plan's trial operation began, Shimura Danzo predictably received corresponding intelligence. His mind immediately traced the potential source back to Orochimaru—the perennial scapegoat was now shouldering Habara's black pot, which, in a certain sense, wasn't entirely wrong.
What kind of legacy could an ordinary ninja who died at thirteen leave in Konoha? Daigo's file was pitifully sparse. Danzo quickly finished reviewing the investigation report, then compared the photo taken during Daigo's life with a newly captured one. Aside from a lack of color in her face, the latter was virtually identical to the former.
With a dismissive gesture, Shimura Danzo swept the file aside and picked up the explanatory document for the trial operation—yes, Lord Danzo could even get his hands on that.
When it came to Konoha's affairs, Lord Danzo was just as attentive as Lord Hokage, though their methods and focus often diverged. Some people always had their own ideas; they just couldn't control themselves.
Staring at the documents spread across his desk, Shimura Danzo fell deep into thought.
Elsewhere, the trial operation phase was proceeding smoothly. However, Daigo—present as a mere "pendant" carrying her main body's red gourd within the small earthen building—would occasionally "zone out." This was because she was engaged in remote communication with certain individuals or receiving chakra transfers from various participants. Besides the portion she absorbed for herself, she needed to categorize, crystallize, and store the rest.
Evidently, while her unique life form granted her special information processing abilities, her capacity for multitasking still required further training.
"Is the plan progressing smoothly?"
Several days into the trial run, Kushina Uzumaki came to check on Daigo, clearly concerned about the project's progress.
However, when she approached Daigo, she was holding a cooing baby Naruto in her arms. His presence unintentionally diluted the seriousness of the conversation... which just goes to show why you shouldn't bring children to the workplace.
"Lady Kushina, on my end... although I still need more time to adapt, there are generally no major issues," Daigo reported.
"That's wonderful! Perfect timing, actually. I've accumulated far too much chakra."
Kushina's statement sounded almost alien coming from a shinobi—who ever complained about having too much chakra?
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she shifted Naruto to one arm and extended her other hand towards Daigo.
Daigo instinctively took Kushina's hand. The next moment, she felt an overwhelmingly immense surge of chakra assault her. The Nine-Tails' chakra was so vast and intensely corrosive that Daigo's subconscious immediately flagged it as some kind of attack. She nearly launched a counter-offensive before managing to restrain herself at the last second.
After Kushina had unloaded a massive amount of Nine-Tails chakra, she wasn't finished. She then handed Naruto over to Daigo. "Here's another batch."
Kushina loosened Naruto's clothing, revealing the Eight Trigrams Seal formula. At his young age, Naruto had no need for the Nine-Tails' power; such immense chakra would be detrimental rather than beneficial. Thus, Kushina had this portion extracted.
Once this task was also completed and Kushina left with Naruto, Daigo stared blankly at her empty right hand, feeling a sudden sense of wistful loss...
After only a short time on the job, Daigo had swiftly grasped the inner workings of the banking industry—a distinct desire to completely abandon small-scale deposit and withdrawal services and focus exclusively on high-value clients.
Truly, a self-taught prodigy in the making.
It was time for Kakashi-senpai to fulfill his role as a senior. Otherwise, Habara would have been calling him 'senpai' all this time for nothing.
Currently, Kakashi was staring at the dozen or so puppies that had suddenly appeared inside the small earthen building. The pups were incredibly lively, creating a scene of chaotic energy. Given that the person raising them was Inuzuka Tsume, with her daughter Inuzuka Hana also helping out, Kakashi doubted these dogs were meant to be simple guard dogs.
"Ninken," Kakashi quickly deduced what was happening. He himself was an expert dog handler, a staunch member of the dog-lover faction—the kind who might even carve dog heads onto random surfaces for fun.
But why suddenly raise so many ninja hounds? The cultivation of summoning animals generally followed established principles; pursuing quantity inevitably lowered quality. The Inuzuka clan had no reason not to understand this basic truth.
Kakashi clearly hadn't yet grasped the fundamental nature of the world he currently inhabited.
As he stood there, staring blankly at the pack of dogs, Habara suddenly called out to him.
"Kakashi-senpai, there's something I'd like your help with."
For some reason, Kakashi felt a sudden sense of foreboding. Nevertheless, he reluctantly tore his gaze away from the puppies and walked over to Habara.
"What is it, Habara?" Kakashi-senpai braced himself to be exploited.
"Earth, Lightning, Wind—those are my three natural affinities. Adding the Fire Release nature transformation I learned previously, I'm currently four out of five. I want to shore up this weakness as soon as possible," Habara began, vaguely hinting at his objective.
"But normally, learning a single nature transformation takes quite a long time. It's difficult to achieve overnight," Kakashi pointed out, his reasoning quite sound. "If you're looking to increase your combat strength, wouldn't learning more jutsu of the four affinities you've already mastered be a higher priority than acquiring a new one?"
Habara, however, shook his head. "This isn't about boosting combat power. The state of being 'five minus one' just makes me uneasy."
A mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and a collector's instinct, huh. It wasn't that hard to understand. Habara wanted to master all five nature transformations simply because not having them all felt wrong. In terms of actual jutsu... how many traditional techniques did he even know?
"So? What do you want me to do?" Kakashi asked. "Let me be clear beforehand, I don't have the ability to make someone instantly master Water Release transformation."
Such a powerful argument. Kakashi was momentarily lost for words.
Habara just smiled. As long as Kakashi was willing to help, he could definitely help. "Learning nature transformation via the standard 'Threshold Method' is certainly slow. That's why I've developed a new learning method, called the 'Perception Method.'"
"Oh? Tell me more."
Kakashi's interest was suddenly piqued. If Habara had truly developed an alternative method for rapidly learning chakra nature transformations, it would be an enormous contribution to the village. It was common knowledge that while even the most difficult and powerful ninjutsu could eventually be developed, the foundational theories and methods underpinning a shinobi's basic skills hadn't seen any breakthroughs for years.
"The so-called Perception Method works like this..." Habara explained, handing Kakashi a chakra crystal and placing a hand on his senior's shoulder. "Kakashi-senpai, this is my chakra. Please convert it to Water Release, and then return it to me."
Kakashi: "..."
"It starts as my non-elemental chakra, and the result is my Water Release chakra. The conversion theory in the middle is still the Threshold Method," Habara continued earnestly. "See? By experiencing the process so directly, one can surely learn new nature transformations with extremely high efficiency."
Aside from the small, insignificant role played by an 'air purifier' somewhere in the middle, it was Habara's chakra flowing and transforming from beginning to end... So... the theory sounded plausible. Kakashi was, once again, speechless.
Alright, Kakashi-senpai wasn't actually speechless...
Perception Method, my ass! Kakashi screamed internally. What kind of bullshit 'new method' is this?!